Asian stocks fall as market focus shifts from Nvidia to US economy

TOKYO — Asian stocks mostly fell on Thursday as market attention turned to upcoming U.S. economic data after Nvidia has released its financial results.

Nvidia, one of several companies that has benefited from the excitement over developments in artificial intelligence, reported earnings on Wednesday.

The results showed a solid profit, but Nvidia shares fell 2.1%, despite having gained 153% over the year. The company is one of the most influential stocks on Wall Street, with a total market capitalization exceeding $3 trillion.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.4% to 38,220.34. Australia’s S&The P/ASX 200 index fell 0.4% to 8,042.10 points. South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.8% to 2,667.65 points. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5% to 17,608.50 points, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.5% to 2,824.62 points.

Feelings remained cautious even after The White House said Beijing and Washington are planning a phone call in the coming weeks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden.

The White House said the two sides would keep lines of communication open as concerns about tensions over Taiwan have been growing lately.

Investors are eagerly awaiting Friday, when the U.S. government will release its latest inflation data with the PCE, or personal consumption and spending, report for July.

Economists expect the PCE, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation, to show inflation ticking up slightly to 2.6% in July from 2.5% in June. It reached 7.1% in mid-2022. The inflation rate has gradually declined back to the central bank’s 2% target since then, following the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes.

Wall Street and the Fed are trying to gauge the resilience of American consumers in the face of inflation pressure and high interest rates. The central bank is expected to begin cutting its benchmark interest rate, which is at a 20-year high, at its next meeting in September.

Wall Street stocks closed lower as declines in big technology companies outpaced gains elsewhere in the market.&The P 500 fell 0.6%, weighed down by declines in Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had just set two consecutive all-time records, fell 0.4%. The Nasdaq Composite, which is heavily weighted toward technology stocks, closed down 1.1%.

In total, the S&The P 500 index lost 33.62 points to 5,592.18 points. The Dow Jones lost 159.08 points to 41,091.42 points. The Nasdaq lost 198.79 points to 17,556.03 points.

Treasury yields were mixed in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.84% from 3.83% on Tuesday.

In energy trading, the barrel of U.S. crude oil, the international benchmark, gained 16 cents to $74.68. The barrel of Brent, the international benchmark, gained 12 cents to $78.77.

On the foreign exchange market, the US dollar appreciated from 144.44 yen to 144.52 Japanese yen. The euro was worth 1.1133 dollars, against 1.1122 dollars previously.

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AP Business reporters Damian J. Troise and Alex Veiga contributed to this report. Yuri Kageyama is on X: